make that point, the president had to try to explainthisissueofthedebtceilingandwhat i think you will see were digestible terms. take a listen. >> this is not a complicated concept. you don't go out to dinner and then, you know, eat all you want and then leave without paying the check. if congress wants to have a debate about maybe we shouldn't go out to dinner next time, maybe we should go to a more modest restaurant, that's fine. >> reporter: he tried to make it very clear that raising the debt ceiling does not automatically authorize future spending. he said he's more than glad to have a balanced approach going to deficit reduction talks in the future but he said that can only happen after the debt ceiling is pushed up by congress. obviously, referring to those republicans in congress that he believes have been obstructing that and what's interesting is one of the first tweets from the press secretary jay carney's twitter account after the news conference is following, basically placing blame on republicans, if people start to stop receiving checks, if we default on the de

deadlines. you havethedebtceilingissue. allof those are in the mix right now because they are all coming to a head at the same time. we are going to need to deal with all of them. can't we be responsible? can't we work collaboratively on this? if we can -- hearing from the white house that, you know, you go figure it out. it is not my problem. i didn't have anything to do with this. that's not the way to go. >> let me ask you about your job as the head of the republican campaign committee. will you support all incumbent house republicans no matter what under all circumstances? or -- is your job to eliminate primary opposition? >> you know, i love how you -- you know, we try to talk in absolutes here. we are a member of organization that supports republicans and republican members of the house. here's when we do and we go out and recruit. i think, you know the voters want to check and balance in washington. we are going to offer a positive alternative. great candidates. we now -- second biggest majority since world war ii coming off the biggest majority. we intend to build on that.

that. so we -- and we still have that strength. but we can't move beyondthedebtceilingissue. iknew that would be a stopper, a game stopper. so we have to address that. now, the conditions exist that there can be a grand compromise that will move the economy forward or we can just go into free fall. for example, the last negotiation on the debt ceiling, well, the president, i thought, gave more than he should have given, but nonetheless, he did that. now the onus is on the rps to come to the table. because, see, what has happened is, tax cuts are essentially -- tax increases are off the table. and we got revenue from that. not enough that we needed, but that's off the table. and that was a big issue for the republicans. >> danny, let's move on. let's talk about the possibility of a government shutdown. the president seemed to indicate that it was, first of all, the republicans' responsibility. that they were going to take the onus, the responsibility for this, and that it was potentially something that he was willing to allow happen, because he felt that most people will blame the r

marker onthatissueofthedebtceiling. willit hit of how much it can borrow. the president says that congress must raise it. he will not negotiate. it's their responsibility. that puts the president squarely at odds with the president. they'll demand spending cuts before raising that ceiling. the president will not engage in negotiates, period. it's simply congress's responsibility to act. >> he's ruled out any unilateral work-around. >>> an element of here we go again. >> it certainly does. so many times, back in august 2011, again, just before the end of this year, the president in pa major confrontation with congress over fiscal issues, taxes and spending and debt. >> you're looking at the door slightly ajarred to the green room, right next to the east room, and the president has been gathering there, we noticed that he postponed this press conference a couple of times this morning. a few delays. >> supposed to be around 11:15. we're almost half-hour after that. not quite. the president could face questions about personnel in the second term. he's facing a big fight with his

that are going to be before us, once we get pastthisdebtceilingissuesomy recommendation with investors is that at this point in time, it's premature to react to those comments, even though they may be troubling to all of us. let's see how it unfolds before you begin making any investment moves based on a potential tax hike. cheryl: well, yeah. talking about more tax revenue coming in, i'm sorry, but ears perk up. let's talk about the specific company that you like on your radar, and there's a couple reasons. first and foremost, they doubled the dividend on monday. the company doing well financially, at the same time, dividend payers like a ford, joe, could, again, fall out of investor payer. do you stick by ford if the tax fight continues? >> yes, because beyond the dividend, it's an attractive stock. auto industry as a whole, we think, has still tremendous upside potential since it bottomed out in 2009, it continues to improve. ford, specifically, streamlined down to lincoln and ford models. they have a ways to go yet, but they are really looking to compete head on in the united state

will open up with remarks about three to five minutes aboutthedebtceiling. it'sanissuethat'sbeen with the president throughout his presidency. he's worked with congress four times to raise it the first time with the stimulus law in 2009, but this time, the president said he has no intention of negotiating with republicans in congress about whether to raise the debt ceiling, saying it's their obligation, not his. another issue clearly to come up will be gun violence. the vice president, joe biden, presents his recommendations based on his task force meetings with the president tomorrow. and maybe the chuck hagel nomination, though which not beleaguered, has developed momentum on capitol hill. those three issues, scott, likely to dominate today's press conference. >> major, thank you very much. six days before inauguration day for the president and it has been exactly one month since that unimaginable tragedy at newtown, connecticut. the vice president has spent the last several days talking to various constituent groups about gun violence in this country, me

you, essentially, to take -- consider some sort of executive action onthisdebtceilingissue. iknow you've said you're not negotiating on it. your administration has ruled out the various ideas that have been out there -- the 14th amendment. but just this morning, one of the house democratic leaders, jim clyburn, asked you to use the 14th amendment and even said, sometimes that's what it takes. he brought up the emancipation proclamation as saying it took executive action when congress wouldn't act, and he compared the debt ceiling to that. so are you considering a plan b, and if not, why not? >> well, chuck, the issue here is whether or not america pays its bills. we are not a deadbeat nation. and so there's a very simple solution to this: congress authorizes us to pay our bills. now, if the house and the senate want to give me the authority so that they don't have to take these tough votes, if they want to put the responsibility on me to raise the debt ceiling, i'm happy to take it. mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, had a proposal like that last year, and i'm h

to the president tomorrow. otherhotissues, thedebtceilingandimmigration we may be hearing about. we want to know what you would ask the president if you're able to ask him a question. you can tweet us at happening now those questions. jon: sounds good. heather touched on it. vice president joe biden presents his plan to curb gun violence to president obama tomorrow. one city is apparently not waiting around for washington act. chicago quickly becoming ground zero in the debate on gun control. that city saw more than 500 murders last year, prompting mayor rahm emanuel to take action with a gun control plan of his own. steve brown is live in chicago right now, but i guess mayor emanuel is not. he is in d.c. today suggesting democratic strategy to try to get gun control accomplished, is that right, steve? >> reporter: in a sense yes, it was part of the discussion at a public revent held in washington that mayor emanuel took part in. local press was made aware of it well in advance. it touches on the city's most dramatic problem which is gun violence in this city. you mentioned over 500 homi

felt would be resolved ultimately in some form the way that it was.thedebtceilingcrisisdoes sort of put these o'two sides, the republicans and democrats and the white house and congress head to head. once again right now, the republicans have insisted that the only way they will raise that debt ceiling past the 16.4 trillion mark where it is right now is if they get dollar for-dollar spending cuts that match that raise. the president has said, his press secretary has said, they will not negotiate on this issue. on the fiscal cliff issue they were willing to negotiate. there were obviously conversations behind the scenes. we know the leaders of congress came here to the white house. on the debt ceiling issue it is dramatically different. and on top of that you also have two other issues where these two sides will be going head to head. again, the issue of sequester. and obviously, the continuing resolution, basically the way the government is paid for going forward. so we've got a busy couple months ahead of us. >> we do. hey, peter, we have to take note that we're going to see yo

've been through this, i go back tothedebtceilingissue, andcan you tell me what would happen if congress did not raise the debt ceiling, and if that would make it such a dangerous option for going forward. >> i think our credit rating would go down, and how would we pay the bills? how would we pay social security? how would we pay veterans? >> [inaudible] >> no. the republicans are saying pick and choose. let's have a vote here. which ones would we pick? which ones would not occur right away? i mean, the president was right to say, in my judgment, to the republicans, don't do it, you're playing with fire. >> i don't understand that, i guess. >> why what? >> why are they playing with fire? what would happen? >> those are two different questions. i think the republicans have some idea of what would happen. we've been through this with the credit rating. i think the sense is they know what would happen until they say let's pick and choose. by the way, they have not said which they would pick and which would be left, and the president made clear we're not talking about future exp

ceilingissue. weshould set it aside for a considerable period of time. we should tackle sequestration and we have to do that in the next six weeks. so i'm hopeful that we don't drag this out as some people are saying and then move on to the serious discussion of tax reform and environment issues. so i see it in a sense the opposite way. i say let's get this done, the sequestration part in the debt ceiling in the next six weeks and then move on. those who are saying let's do it dribble by turbo, they are the ones who would be undermining the effort to sit down and have a serious discussion of tax reform. >> we've got about two minutes left. francine. >> the question about itemize deductions. what s-sierra thought of having a cab, that people can use it for whatever they want for mark h., whatever. >> i think the problem with the cap is that it has to seriously consequence, especially for charitable contributions. because a substantial portion of the charitable contributions come from the very wealthy. ii think the figure may be something like well over half comes from people with incom

's a good thing over the longer term. we do havesomeissuescomingup.thedebtceilingobviouslyone of them. the second question is we start to get the economic data. how big of a hit from the tax increaseses, payroll tax holiday, and what do those numbers which may be a bit on the soft side do to stocks? >> absolutely. that is the question of the day, isn't it, jared. the ceiling debate, the u.s. set to hit that $16 trillion limit on borrowing in the next month if we haven't hit it yet. let's take a listen to what president obama had to say about the potential battle looming in congress. >> markets could go haywire, interest rates would spike for anybody who borrows money. every homeowner with a mortgage, every student with a college loan, every small business own whole wants to grow and hire. >> jared, how does this play out? >> well, we're beginning to hear lots of sounds from republicans that we're in a compromising mode than we heard, say, a week ago. right now they're talking about perhaps an increase in the debt ceiling that lasts for a couple of months, that is offering that

. i think the question is how much willtheseissuesfromwashington, whether it'sthedebtceiling, thesequester, the lingering uncertainty over the long-term budget picture undermine confidence, lower the valuations of u.s. companies because people just have less confidence in long-term trajectory. >> jared, president obama starts his second term next week. his inauguration, of course, monday. what has he done right in the last four years, in your view, what could he have done better or has he done wrong? >> four years ago right around this time when i was a member of the administration's economic team i was remembering just the juks of position about the great hope and expectations and just the real horror of what was going on in macro economy. gdp contracting at 9%, losing 700, 800,000 jobs per month. i think the president came in and hit very hard and broke the back of the great recession a lot sooner than people expected, certainly the financial markets were reflated much more quickly than -- and at less ek pence than people expected. and pretty soon, really by the second hal

of authorizing more spending.theissuehereis whether or not america pays its bills. raisingthedebtceilingdoesnot authorize us to spend more. because this is about paying your bills. >> i do hope speaker boehner was listening. joining us in the studio is jonathan capehart from "the washington post" and in los angeles democratic strategist and nyu professor bob shrum. welcome to you both. professor shrum, we reached the debt ceiling two weeks ago today. the treasury department is giving us a few weeks of maneuvering room before we begin to default. and yet you have people like the heritage foundation saying today, default is not at issue. how many conservatives truly believe their tactics pose no risk whatsoever to the economy, particularly given what happened the last time they took the debt ceiling hostage? >> look, what heritage put out today is drivel. a transparent attempt -- >> drivel, this is the considered view of an important organization. >> yeah, whose president is jim demint. i don't take it all that seriously. >> okay. >> what they're saying is, well, the government could pay

, to consider some sort of executive action onthisdebtceilingissue. iknow you've said you're not negotiating and your administration has ruled out the various ideas that were out there, the 14th amendment, but just this morning one of the house members asked you to use the 14th amendment and said sometimes that's what it takes. he brought up the proclamation and he compared the debt ceiling to that. so are you considering a plan b? and if not, why not? >> well, chuck, the issue here is whether or not america pays its bills. we are not a deadbeat nation. and so there is a very simple solution to this. congress authorizes us to pay our bills. now, if the house and the senate want to give me the authority so that they don't have to take these tough votes, if they want to put the responsibility on me to raise the debt ceiling, i'm happy to take it. mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, had a proposal like that last year, and i'm happy to accept it. but if they want to keep this responsibility, then they need to go ahead and get it done. and there are no magic t

and the democrats on this powerful committee as to who should testify. because i don't thinkthedebtceilingissueshouldbecome such a partisan issue. and i just appeal to the republicans who are having this retreat to realize that they should not place us in that kind of jeopardy. so there will be a hearing. we're going to work on witnesses today, settle them, and i hope the chairman and i will be resolving who will be the witnesses. they get the choice, the majority, but in this case i think there will be consternation as to who they pick and our choice. host: ok, all right. guest: we'll have one witness out of four. host: could it be secretary geithner? guest: no. host: do you think they'll call on him, the republicans? guest: no. host: tony, olive branch, mississippi. republican. hi, tony. caller: good morning. how you doing, senator? guest: where is olive branch? caller: it's down across the street from memphis, tennessee -- mississippi. guest: i've been across the bridge there. host: what's your question or comment? caller: my deal is when you talk about congress and everybody is looking at

ceiling, thehouse gop considering on raisingthedebtlimit.we'll bring you more details and the senate judiciary committee, patrick leahy announced he'll be taking up issues of gun violence and immigration in the new term. republicans and democrats recently announced senate committee assignments and we'll talk about that as well. this afternoon the president kicked off the national day of service volunteering at a school here in the d.c. area. tomorrow he will take the oath of office in a private ceremony at noon. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. nbc news senior political editor mark murray standing by with new insight from the new nbc news wall street journal poll. let me start with you. for folks who may not get this, a lot of folks wondering why is the president -- he's going to be sworn in on sunday and sworn in again on monday. what's the deal? >> reporter: well, craig, the reason is that the constitution states that the president has to be sworn in before noon on january 20th. january 20th falls on a sunday this year. it's the seventh time that happened in the nation's

is up against republicans, he trying to work onthedebtceiling. youhavethewholeissueofwhether or not the debt ceiling is going to be raised, whether or not that is going to be held hostage to actually paying the bills the government has to pay. you also talk about immigration reform. where does this fit in in terms of the president's priorities, do you think? >> well, from where i sat today, obviously it seems to be a very high priority for the president of the united states. i'll let the white house and the administration answer how they're going to deal with congress. that's their task, not mine. but i'm confident that the president, the vice president and the entire administration is going to do everything they can to get the package they proposed today through congress. and, you know, when you heard the president say, i think it's essential, american citizens, the american people have to demand this. we have to act. when you have 1,000 people nearly killed in last 30 days at the hands of gun, when you have mass tragedies like happened in connecticut, aurora, colorado, oreg

thedebtceilingastheissue, thepresident gets to talk about default, he gets to talk about social security, and from a republican standpoint, we should be talking about spending, spending restraint. so what's the logical place to do this? obviously, it's on the sequester. that's where the next pressure point should be, and we should have the debate over how much spending should be explained. the president said he'll do a two for one event, two dollars of spending for every dollar of revenue. $1.2 trillion of spending restraint, that makes sense. the two match up rather equally. .. >> the only way you can get agreements with both sides win by the way, if something like this. where there are a series of entitlement changes which do not impact immediately and leapfrog the president's term in office, so the price he will pay will not be significant any era of political capital, but which do very significant steps in getting our fiscal house in order. most of our entitlements concern that down the road driven event, the baby boom generation is fully retired and are entitlement system c

onthisissue. >>as you well know, sir, finding votes forthedebtceilingcansometimes be complicated, you yourself as a member of the senate voted against the debt ceiling increase, and in previous aspects of american history, president reagan in 1985, president george herbert walker bush, and president clinton, deals contingent upon raising the debt ceiling and you yourself, related to debt or budget related maneuvers. and what many people are curious about the new adamant desire on your part not to negotiate that seems to conflict with the entire hire in the modern era of the presidents and the debt ceiling and your own debt ceiling and doesn't it suggest we're going into a default situation because no one is talking to each other about this. >> no, major, i think if you look at the history. getting votes for the debt ceiling is difficult and votes in in town are difficult. i went through this last year. what is different we never saw a situation like we saw last year in which certain groups in congress took such an absolutist position that we came within a few days of defaulting. >> lo

the administration yesterday onthisissue. whatdo you think? ifthedebtceilingnegotiable.from eugene, oregon, jed is independent. caller: my opinion is you cannot convince me there is not excess spending and that people cannot still get paid. the debt ceiling cannot continue going up. we wonder why the majority of the united states is in debt. it is because we are taught that by government. we cannot keep borrowing. an e-mail is going around that i've seen on facebook as well, saying its 545 vs 300 million. if both sides of the party don't like debt and they don't like the deficit, then why do we have them? it's a pretty simple question. host: we will keep the conversation going throughout this morning, talking with two members of the house of representatives about their take on the debt ceiling and gun- control and other big-ticket items better up from debate in the 113 congress. on our facebook page, this is what folks are saying. jed in eugene, oregon, independent. i just spoke with him. i'm sorry. david is in kentucky, democratic caller. caller: yes, you do a good job. the last caller ha

as mental health so that can be a focus as well. stillthedebtceilingisanotherissuetotalk about, and trying to find a solution to the deficit problem, lings. so economics still playing a big factor and jobs. that's one thing a lot of people talked about last night is the emphasis for needing more jobs for americans, as the president starts his second term. mike. >> all right. tori campbell, live in washington, d.c. this morning. we appreciate your time. >>> as you saw it live, president obama was just sworn in a few minutes ago. vice president joe biden already was sworn in for his second term earlier this morning. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations >> thank you. [ applause ] >> biden was surrounded by family and friends for his brief swearing in at the naval observatory. supreme court justice sonia sotomayor administered the oath of office. after biden's swearing in he and president obama attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns at arlington national cemetery. it's the first time a visit to the cemetery has been included as part of the

ceilingora whole range ofotherissuesthatthe current president -- >> look, martin, du h, lincoln would agree with me on everything. this is the unmistakable mandate of history. we all know this. >> right. thank you very much. thomas frank, thank you. >>> next, the president may be one step closer to getting his man. but first, sue herera has the cnbc market wrap. good afternoon. >> good to see you, martin. let's check in on how wall street finished today's trading session. it was a volatile trading day and the dow jones managed to gain 27 points. the s&p gained just under 2 points on the trading session. and the nasdaq with a drag from face boonk to the downside finished down 6.75 points. that's it from cnbc. we are first in business worldwide. martin is back after a quick break. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he

conference of his first termtoissueanultimatum to congressional republicans, raisethedebtceiling. buthouse republicans have been equally adamant they will not raise the debt ceiling unless the president first agrees to major spending cuts. >> i think the real issue here is, we all know, is spending. >> reporter: the president insists this is not even a subject for negotiation. >> the financial well-being of the american people is not leverage to be used. the full faith and credit of the united states of america is not a bargaining chip. >> reporter: stakes are higher than they were during the new year's eve showdown over the fiscal cliff. if an agreement isn't reached, the federal government faces default on its debt and a partial shutdown. >> social security checks and veterans benefits will be delayed. we might not be able to pay our troops. >> reporter: some have suggested president obama would have better luck with the republicans if he socialized with them. the president said that probably wouldn't make much of a difference, but he wouldn't mind trying. >> most people who k

and work with republicans oncriticalissueslikethecurrentdebtceilingdebate.they feel, some do, that he's been more isolationist and even aggressive towards the other side or, the word i'm looking for, antagonistic. and joining us a michael reagan, chairman of the reagan group. this is not just the president's critics saying it, bob woodward wrote in his book about a president obama who was a distant character, equally cool relationships with politicians and business leaders. those who know him, somebody who worked in the white house, an aide to president obama said that publicly he doesn't call anyone, he's not close to virtually anyone, he really doesn't like people. she later came out and apologized for saying that, but the criticism, he's not getting any deals done in part, not in full, but in part because he doesn't know how to forge relationships with his opponents. your thoughts? >> no, i think you're absolutely right and he's unwilling to do that. he feels empowered by the last election that somehow he's been empowered by the public to do exactly what he wants to do and

more people care aboutthatissuethanthedebtceiling. >>bill: they get too full of themselves. the problem with the front row particularly the press corps is they represent different networks. they all want to talk about let's say, for example guns. they all want to be on camera asking the question about guns and it doesn't matter if somebody else has already asked the question five different times in five different ways, they're still going to ask it so they can get on camera. that's what's wrong with the press briefings. >> thank you very much for your tweet. >> if you go to the newseum web site and you look at what the country is talking about it is a rich quilt of different issues, different ideas that people around this country are discussing. and the washington press corps questions of one or two topics doesn't even big to cover -- begin to cover what reporters around this country are reporting on, talking about. that disconnect is really jarring, i think. >> bill: it is jarring. i remember as a reporter in los angeles and a comment tater in los angeles, covering preside

statement. he will also elaborate on the upcoming fiscal deadlines like thatdebtceiling. >>> a special public hearing is scheduled tonight in san mateo on the fate of a new 7-eleven store. the store opened weeks ago in a vacant building. neighbors were upset when a special permit was grand changing the zoning from residential to business. the city planning commission has recommended the store be shut down. city council will vote tonight at 6:00. >>> a pizza chain has settled a complaint with san francisco that it did not follow the city's healthcare law. the chicago pizza shop will spend $320,000 some of that about $200,000 going to current and former employees who were eligible for healthcare benefits but did not get any. a city investigation discovered the chain charged customers a surcharge without using the money for healthcare as required. >>> over time taking a bite out of the muni budget in san francisco. 22 of the biggest overtime earners in the city last year were actually muni employees. they racked up a total of $18 million in overtime.

to face thetaxissue, aswell. it's not just raisingthedebtceilingthathe's going to have to deal with. but he's going to have to negotiate with the republicans and perhaps try to change the tax code. all of these things are things he's already signaled he wants to do. what's fascinating is that this is a president who wanted to be a domestic president in the last -- in his first term and he was saddled with an economic situation and two wars to deal with. now is a shot to be that domestic president and make some really big change. but he's going to have to work with republicans in the house in order to get big things accomplished. >> and clearly what he wants to do is have some influence on voters. and though the official announcement is expected today, we do know that obama for america is going to become this nonprofit supporting his agenda. what kind of influence could this have? >> well, i think if you're an obama supporter, you hope it has more influence than it did or what they tried to do during his first term. they talked a lot about this leveraging his campaign which ever

the brink aboutthedebtceiling. theydo want to forcetheissueabouthow can they get this president to agree to additional spending cuts? the debt ceiling is a dangerous game. i think they recognize that politically. they'll push -- the question is how -- how do they push on the debt ceiling? do they say, look, we'll give you a short-term extension of the debt ceiling for a certain amount of spending cuts, or we'll give you a long-term extension like you want for even more spending cuts. can they force entitlement reform around medicare, for instance, even some of the -- in their view -- more limited things that the president wants to do around means testing and age and indexing to try to attach that to a debt-limit deal. do they move beyond the debt limit, try to get to the continuing resolutions and those kinds of things? they recognize that this is the only area of leverage that they have, but they want to be careful about it. >> so chuck todd, how does the white house deal with that supposed leverage? >> well, first i think the republicans are hoping that they have a manti te'o

shutdown. other isthedebtceiling. letme ask you again, would you be willing to shut the government down? >> we are going to look at all of these options. you know, there is the option of government shutdown. there is an option of raising the debt ceiling in short-term increments. >> would you be wailing to do that? >> i don't know. i just know that that's one of the things that is being floated, as you've seen in some of the articles. is raising it in short-term inyes increments. there's also the olympiplan of cuts of every $1 of debt limit increase. there are a lot of plans out there. the healthy thing is this. we are having a good discussion on it and the american people are very engaged in it. when i'm out in my district like i was last week and talking to my constituents, they will tell you, they are just -- they're over pay for programs they don't want, programs that have outlived their usefulness with money that we do not have. >> but with are they willing to see the government shut down? are you hearing that, congresswoman? >> yes, they are. yes, they are. but they want us to be

anddebtceiling, povertyis expanding. 50 million in poverty. food insecure, unemployed, and the disparity keeps growing, plus an impact of violence. so those issues must be confronted in this second go-round. >> how does the president go about doing that? i made the point in the last, before the last break that the president, at least at that point, had both houses of congress under his belt with a democrat majority. he doesn't have that anymore. can he put forward legislation, ideology, issues to help reduce that polarization? >> you know what, lyndon johnson opened up the war on immigration in appalachia. most poor people are white, female and young, and black and brown hunger hurts. 50 million, these people are malnourished, homeless or wandering. they're unbankable, therefore they're driven into expensive loan arrangements. they are poor. they cannot send their children to school. they cannot dream. 50 million more very close to them, this impact of growing poverty and racial polarization and violence is a hell of a combination, and i would think that now we must in substance take a h

, the president expected shortly. he will be talking aboutthedebtceiling. thatis the $16.7billionceilingwewill hit up against in congress. also, possibly touching on topics like gun violence and other issues that are on the president's agenda. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> please have a seat. good morning. i thought it might make sense to take some questions this week as my first term comes to an end. it has been a busy and productive for years. i expect the same thing from the next four years, and i intend to carry out the agenda i campaigned on. new security for the middle class. right now our economy is growing and our businesses are creating new jobs. we are poised for a good year. if we make smart decisions in sound investments, and as long as washington politics did not get in the way of america's progress. as a set on the campaign, one component to growing our economy and broadening opportunity for the middle class is shrinking our deficit and a balanced and responsible way. for nearly two years now i have been fighting for such a plan, one that wo

with republicans on the hill afterthedebtceilingnegotiationback in 2011. for that reason and others, his confirmation hearing could be bumpy. if confirmed, he will be dealing with the top issue in this second term, how to get the economy moving and addressing the country's long term fiscal problems. >> this is a president that is forced to grapple with the budget woes, with the economy that cannot get over the hump. it will consume most of his time, i believe, in the second term. >> what he cannot do going into the term is go from economic crisis to economic crisis. that is not leadership. he has to figure out how to address this in ay way. our health care reform cannot waste, must not wait and will not wait another year. >> passing health care legislation early on was high on the president's to-do list. he picked kansas governor to head up health and human services, to get health care legislation done he largely passed control over to congress to put the bill together and to figure out how to get it through. it became a messy process about 2,000-plus-page bill. it did pass. it was signe

, we deterred from the president addressingthedebtceiling, hereis more ontheissuefromthis morning's "washington journal." host: did this through the new report, we're joined by the economic policy project senior director, steve bell. director, explain this term that you use. what is the x date? guest: we called the drop dead date. that is the day all these extraordinary measures expires. that means the treasury will not have enough money to pay the next bill that comes then in full and on time. host: you try to figure when that date will hit. this is a chart from the debate, when the x date could hit. why is it a range? guest: we do not know what will happen to tax refunds. there could be some delays in getting tax refunds out. people who file their tax returns and expect to get a refund. if those refunds are delayed, will be near the end of that. host: take us back to explain how we're juggling these numbers around. we hit the debt limit on december 31st. how was treasury paying the bills? guest: they are using money called extraordinary measures. they borrow money f

brought up the emancipation proclamation and he comparedthedebtceilingtothat. are you considering a plan-b? and if not, why not? >> well, chuck, the issue here is whether or not america pays its bills. we are not a deadbeat nation and -- there is a very simple solution to this. congress authorizes us to pay our bills. the house and the senate want to give mean the authority so they don't have to take these tough votes, if they want to put the responsibility on me to raise the debt ceil, i'm happy to take it. mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, had a proposal like that hast year, but in they want to keep -- keep this responsibility -- there are no magickic interests here. there are no loopholes. there are no, you know, easy outs. this is a matter of congress, authorizes spending. they order me to spend -- you need to send out social security checks. you need to make sure that you are paying to care for our veterans. they lay all of this out for me. and because they have the spending power so i'm required to go ahead and pay these bills. >> separately, they also h

to be a strategy. where doesthedebtceilingfitinto this? it just ensures that we pay the bills that we already spent. why are they talking about the two issues as if they're the same? >> why do they do a lot of things. but the question as that vote approaches in february or march whenever it's going to be, there are two questions actually. number one will boehner let a vote happen as he did with the fiscal cliff. he did let that vote happen. rick pearlstein mentioned the rule that boehner broke that rule for the fiscal cliff. will he break that rule again knowing that it will only get a certain number of republican votes. that's a. and b, how many republican votes will it get it being a clean debt-limit raising bill attached to no cuts. we assume that democrats would vote for that. it would mean twenty-something or 30 republicans--would that many republicans--i know obama got 85 on the fiscal cliff deal. but this is going to be a tougher vote for republicans on the debt ceiling. will he get 25 or 30. >> john: alex we have 20 second left. let me ask you some republicans are talking about anothe

if congress does not passthedebtceiling. .it has been less than one month since the tragic shooting at sandy hook elementary in connecticut and the country is deeply divided over the issue of gun control, and the deadline is approaching for vice president joe biden to representative his recommendations to the president which should happen tuesday. cnn's candy crowley is taking up the debate in today's "state of the union" and candy, i understand that you have a pretty outspoken guest on the show. >> well, a couple of them. david keene who is the president of the national rifle association and also we will talk to the new senator from connecticut chris murphy and i spoke to him a month ago up there on the scene at newtown, and then we want to try to take a look of this from a bipartisan approach if that is possible. there is a new group forming with senator joe manchin who is a democrat from west virginia and jon huntsman who was a presidential candidate a moderate who is trying to form this group to form bipartisanship, and is that possible anymore? we want to look at gun debate thr

macgs? >> this is animportantissue. wedo have things to worry about like unemploymentanddebtceiling,but this is big. basically what was happening it was on the menu. it said champagne and champagne technically comes from a part of france. >> gregg: a region of france. >> right and the lobbyists went crazy over this. u.s. law says as long as you show the origin of the grapes it's already but they put california on the right side and on the left side -- >> only the french would get upset about that. >> gregg: the problem is there is too many lobbyists in washington. we put on green room on this. it's astonishing. there are 12,051 lobbyists that are actively lobbying. >> $3.3 billion in one year. >> gregg: i didn't do that. if you do the math, 22 lobbyists for every single member of congress? >> yes. >> gregg: there 22 to one in lobbyists. >> there are a lot of lobbyists. >> gregg: there is a lot of influence peddling going on in washington, d.c. >> to me this champagne issue popped my cork. >> gregg: they ought to switch to martinis? >> i think they would all be happier, cham

, climatechange,debtceiling, and immigration. >> and one more thing going for him. >> the republicans are total disarray. they have been so poor in their choices on candidates as well as issues. each of them have gone in the wrong direction. so suddenly, they're at war among themselves. >> and we're going to be watching it. >> and it's right. >>> coming up, one more look at this morning's top stories. >> and that includes finding out who is playing in the super bowl today. the big game between the 49ers and the falcons next. president obama takes the oath of office for his second term in ab >>> welcome back. >> president barack obama taking the oath of office for the second term in about half an hour. the formal swearing in happens in the white house blue room this morning. in a public ceremony, big pomp and circumstance set for tomorrow. >>> ask the 49ers will face the atlanta falcons today in the nfc championship game. if the 49ers win, they earn their ticket to new orleans and a chance to win their sixth super bowl. >>> prosurfers are in half

trying to figure out what they are going to do aboutthedebtceiling. it looks like they may be softening on that issue. here in washington as the debate over sensible gun control measures. on that front, how about it? the latest cbs poll "new york times" poll shows that the american people are solidly in support of the common sense gun violence measures introduced this week by president obama and vice president biden. 92% of americans supporting a universal background check; 6063 supporting a ban on high-capacity magazines. 53% supporting renewal of the ban on assault weapons. over all 54% of americans say they want action on gun control. so what the hell is congress waiting for. on top of that, we have the big lie arizona, lance armstrong and and. manti te'o. we'll cover it next here on current tv. right have, about the "heavy hand of government" ... i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really? you're going to lay people off because now the government is going to help you fund your healthcare. really? i want to have those conversa

, climatechange,debtceilingsandimmigration. >> and he has one more thing going for them. the republicans are in total disarray. they have gone in the wrong direction in the terms of candidates and issues. so, suddenly they are at war among themselves. >> and there is more to continue. we will be right back. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, this morning president obama to r his . >>> okay. let's take look at this morning's top stories which just about half an hour ago president obama took an oath of office for his second term. the formal swearing in happened at the top of this hour. but the public ceremony, the biggy, is for tomorrow. >> meanwhile the san francisco 49ers face the atlanta falcons. if the 49ers win they get the ticket to the super bowl in new orleans plus a chance to win the 6th super bowl. >> and the mavericks surf contest is going on in half- moon day and the sun is shining. >> yes. we will look for temperatures in the 60s in the bay area. in san francisco a forecast high in the low 60s. 63 oakland. 68 in san jose. it will be a beautiful one. >> you can't go wrong. >>> t

thedebtceilinglimit,you can be at the point where at the beginning of the month, you can't send out social security checks on time. the last tame we got social security reform was 1983. why? because we weren't going to send the checks out on time. let's get real. >> but they are going to back down. that's why in the end they -- sounds great now. >> you think they're definitely going to do it. >> i think he'll go up to the brink and get cold feet and go to the sequester which comes up right after. i think the battle will be waged over that. this is the losing proposition. >> peggy. >> i think it should be noted we have a president. i think it should be noted that he should be sitting down and talking with those who would move -- attempt to move forward -- >> good point. >> -- on spending. i consider it unusual that this president can never make a deal with those folks. >> but this is not something to negotiate over. you do not negotiate with hostage-takers. that's the white house position. they're right about that. you just don't negotiate on this. you can negotiate on the sequester.

onthedebtceilingincrease?are you going to be-- does that help? >> well, it's helpful that they have now dropped their demand, that the only way they're going to pay the country's billes, they themselves racked up, would be to extract some concessions. we've got to never again have this threat to the global economy and our economy because congress may not pay its bills. now, three months is no way to run an economy or railroad or anything else so that's not ideal. so i think it's a significant moment that the republican party now has moved off their position that the only way they're going to pay their bills is if they ge the correct kind of concessions. now, where does that leave us? i think we would be better served to go back to regular order in congress so we're notica reaping crisis to crisis; congress ought to work together and come up with a long-term fiscal plan >> but you see this as a good sign? >> i think they're no longer saying the only way we pay our bills is to have huge cuts in things like medicare. that's positive. listen you see our economy-- good housing numbers this p

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